Monday Gate Drop

Good Morning and Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend. Judging by the news on this chilly Monday morning, the warm temperatures have vanished and almost all of the country saw some pretty cool weather this weekend. In Ontario we got a pretty good dusting of snow on Saturday morning. With the snowmobile show happening in Toronto, I’m sure it had the crowd there pretty excited. Judging by the news in Calgary, it looks like Southern Alberta took a pretty good hit with snow too.

It always seems to snow in Shelburne.

With the racing set to move indoors in two weeks in Chilliwack, BC, the line up of riders seems to keep growing each day. Last week, both Medaglia brothers confirmed they would be lining up at the opening round. This is great news as there will be five or six riders on the starting line capable of winning main events. Not only was Jeremy Medaglia’s entry into the series a surprise but the colour of bike that he will be riding is even a bigger surprise.

To team up with their rider Ross Johnson, Cycle North Honda has gone out and secured Jeremy’s services for the Arenacross Series. This certainly makes them one of the favourites heading into round one. It will also be interesting to see Jeremy on a red bike. Not to be outdone by his younger brother, Tyler Medaglia also announced last week that he will be riding a KTM 250 two-stroke for Maple Ridge Motorsports. It will be great to see these two eastern guys head out west to battle. It’s also great that these guys are going to keep racing throughout the winter.

My original plan was to travel to BC for round one but my trip out west has now been postponed for a few weeks. Now I will be heading to rounds three and four later in November as MXP was invited to Alabama next week for the 2014 YZF 250 Press Launch. This opportunity to travel south for two days of riding Yamaha’s brand new fuel injected 250F is going to be amazing and I can’t wait. Now I just have to find a way to get some riding in this week so I’m not too rusty for Alabama.

It’s really amazing the access we have to information we have these days. With Twitter and Facebook it seems like we’re never out of the loop. I saw a tweet yesterday posted by Nicky Beatty’s Dad, Dave, thanking the medical staff at the Baja Brawl this past weekend. I decided to call Dave last night to see if everything was okay and he told me that Nicky had a pretty big crash at Baja on Saturday. After getting a great start in the 450A moto Nicky crashed hard and ended up hitting his head. What followed was a great job by the on-site paramedics to get Nicky stable as he was in pretty bad shape. Eventually, Nicky came around and was transported to hospital where he spent the night. Dave said that he is doing fine now and is back to the Nicky they know and love. He just has to rest and stay off the bike for a little while. Get well soon Nicky and we’re all glad you’re okay.

Nicky Beatty had a big crash at Baja on Saturday but he’s at home and doing great.

This winter I’m coaching my son’s Tyke hockey team here in Shelburne. The age group for Tyke is basically 6-7 years of age so in motocross it’s the equivalent of the 50cc class. After spending all summer at the races as a mini dad, I find myself comparing the kids on Ayrton’s hockey team with those kids that he raced against all summer. While there is no comparison in how structured hockey is compared to motocross, I mean you can go online to the Ontario Minor Hockey Association web site and download lesson plans on how to teach hockey to kids. They have practice by practice lessons for you that you can follow exactly if you want. Motocross doesn’t have anything like this as it’s a little more fly by the seat of your pants.

One thing that does impress me about motocross compared to hockey is the maturity of the kids in the younger age groups. To me there is no comparison between a six year-old motocross rider and a six year-old hockey player. I don’t know if it’s the mental toughness and maturity that the individuality of motocross demands but the kids at the track are sure on a different level than some of the kids at the rink. There are exceptions to every rule but this is what I’m seeing. I think this speaks pretty well for the sport of motocross and how demanding it is at every level. All we need to do is keep improving the structure of the teaching like we’ve been doing each year.

Well, that’s it for me this week. I hope everyone has a great week and I hope it warms up so we can all do a little more riding. If you live in Ontario, don’t forget about the Indoor Series that begins this Saturday at Chesterman’s in Tillsonburg. Practice begins at 3pm and all you have to do is show up and race. Also, here’s hoping that Ontario Vet Junior rider Shane Tormey is feeling better. Shane had surgery last week to repair his shoulder that he injured riding in September. It’s bad enough when a Pro rider gets injured, but when someone gets injured when they’re just out having fun riding with their son, to me that is a real bummer. Get well Shane, and Happy Halloween to all the kids out there!!